This invention was not developed in conjunction with any Federally sponsored contract.
Not applicable.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the art of receivers of broadcast signals and data, such as traditional analog radio receivers, digital radio receivers, televisions, and wired and wireless web receivers.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are many types of broadcast receivers available in the art today, including radios, televisions, and wireless web receivers. With the advent of Internet broadcast video and broadcast radio channels such as Net Channels and Net Radio by Netscape, even a web browser connected to a wired network can be considered a broadcast receiver of sorts. Thus, not all broadcast receivers are necessarily wireless receivers, but in general it can be said that all broadcast receivers are of the nature that they receive and present information to a user in a unidirectional manner.
Many broadcast technologies include information within the data stream, on a sub-carrier, or on a separate carrier, which can be decoded or demodulated to reveal information regarding the broadcast source, broadcast content or xe2x80x9cformat tagxe2x80x9d, and other information. One such available system in Europe is the Radio Data Service (xe2x80x9cRDSxe2x80x9d), and a similar system available in the United States is the Radio Broadcasting Data Service (xe2x80x9cRBDSxe2x80x9d). These systems include an inaudible carrier or subcarrier associated with the broadcast signal which contains information or data that can be demodulated and decoded to reveal information regarding the broadcast source and broadcast content (e.g. xe2x80x9cformat tagxe2x80x9d). By decoding this information, a radio may display the call letters of the radio station to which it is tuned, the program format (e.g. classical, rock, news, jazz, talk, etc), or other useful information. Such radios are readily available from major manufacturers of radios such as Blaupunkt.
Standard chip set or semiconductor solutions for implementing these types of radio receivers are available from well-known semiconductor manufacturers, such as the Philips"" Radio Data System Demodulator Chip SAA6579 and the RDS/RBDS preprocessor SAA6588.
Turning to FIG. 1, the general architecture of a prior art radio (1) is shown. A broadcast signal (10) is received by the radio (1) through an antenna (2). A tuner receiver (3) decodes a signal from a selected frequency and band, and outputs that signal to an audio amplifier (7). In turn, the audio amplifier (7) produces a signal to drive a speaker (8) which is audible by a user. Most modern radios are controlled by a controller (4), such as a microprocessor or micro controller, which may select a frequency and a band for the tuner receiver (3) to decode. Indicators from the tuner receiver (3) back to the controller may include station lock, stereo detected, and RDBS or RDS detected. The controller typically has associated with it a memory 4xe2x80x2 for use by the firmware or software executed by the controller, and for storing user preferences such as the station assignments to preset keys on the radio.
A typical radio also has a keypad (5), which can be monitored by the controller for user input, and a display (6), such as an alphanumeric LCD display, which can be driven by the controller. On the keypad there are typical preset keys such as preset 1 through preset 5. A typical radio will allow a user to assign a specific frequency or station to each key pad preset key. For example, preset key 1 may be assigned to the favorite radio station of a user, such that the user may quickly tune the radio to the favorite station by a single press of preset key 1. The controller stores this selection in a list in memory (4xe2x80x2). Most radios display the frequency of the currently selected station, or the time from a clock on the display (6).
More advanced radios include an information channel decoder (9), such as an RDS or RBDS decoder. In these radios, certain information from the information channel decoder is available to the controller for use in its control of the tuner receiver, and possibly for display to the user. This may include displaying the radio station""s call letters, a song title or artist name, or other information.
Many radios are provided with several preset keys in the keypad. They may also have a key that cycles through one or more banks of preset memories, such as three FM band preset banks and one AM band preset bank. For example with 5 preset keys, a user may configure the radio with up to fifteen favorite FM stations and five favorite AM stations. However, most users are unable to remember fifteen stations assigned to fifteen key selections, and thus the banks 2 and 3 may go practically unused.
Most rental cars are equipped with an AM/FM radio, and many have cassette or CD players also. When a rental car customer arrives in a new city at an airport or a train station, he typically rents the car from an agency and then takes the car from the airport or the train station into the city. Radios currently available in such rental vehicles are not easily reprogrammed or setup for the user for his preferences. In the related application, advanced methods for automatically configuring the radio preset keys were disclosed which enable a user, who is unfamiliar with a set of radio stations or broadcast stations in a geographic region, to quickly program his radio by broadcast content of the radio stations.
Further, the user typically is not familiar with the vehicle that he has rented because it might not be the same make or model of vehicle that he personally owns. And, he will often need detailed directions for exiting the airport, information regarding weather, traffic, and events in the city which he is visiting, and information on how to return the automobile. Some airports and train stations provide a low power radio transmitter which includes information about the local surroundings and directions around and in and out of the airport. However, since the new visitor is not aware of this radio station, he is not likely to tune his rental car radio to that station. An analogous situation occurs when a new visitor checks into a hotel. His room may have a television which is equipped with cable or satellite transmissions, but he may not be familiar with the various television stations or cable stations available to him in this particular city. Thus, in the related application, the methods disclosed can be used to tune his television based upon broadcast content of the locally available television stations or cable channels. Again, he may not easily obtain local information about events, weather, and information on how to use the facilities of the hotel easily using most televisions in common hotel rooms. While some hotel televisions do provide a function that upon being turned on they tune to a specific channel which gives directions on how to use the pay-per-view movies, possibly some news about events at the hotel, and maybe a cable channel guide, this informational channel will continue to be displayed until a user either turns off the television or changes the channel manually.
As these information receivers, such as radio receivers in rental cars, televisions in hotel rooms, and even web TV browsers in hotel rooms are very common place today, they represent an opportunity to provide accessible information and instructions to a user, but, as of yet, have not been effectively used as such.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a system and method which automatically tunes a broadcast signal receiver such as a radio, television, or web browser to a preselected or series of preselected broadcast sources for a period of time upon initialization of the system, such as turning the power on to the radio, television, or web browser. By configuring the broadcast receiver to automatically tune to information or instructional channels, or to a series of informational or instructional channels upon power-up, the user may be automatically notified or instructed as to directions to exit an airport, directions to return a rental car, local news, weather, and traffic reports, instructions on how to use the system or the vehicle in which a receiver is installed, and instructions on how to find and use facilities within a hotel. The automatically tuned source may also contain advertising, which may enable new business models for hotels and rental car companies to provide targeted advertising to their clients. For example, products, services and establishments who cater to higher income clientele may be advertised in luxury rental cars, while products, services and establishments directed towards budget-minded patrons may be advertised in economy rental cars.
Further, there is a need in the art for this system and method of automatically temporarily tuning a broadcast receiver to allow for the selection of the source of informational and instructional material to come from a plurality of sources, such as a series or sequence of broadcast stations, internet channel sources or addresses, television stations, radio stations, system memory, or system recorded media such as tapes or CDs.